Tuesday, October 30, 2007

LAT Orange County Plant Knocked Offline

On Saturday October 27th, 2007 the Los Angeles Times Costa Mesa Production Facility lost all power to the plant. The entire Sunday edition was produced at the downtown Olympic Facility, with subscribers in Orange County affected directly with late newspapers Sunday morning.

The reason for the outage are still a mystery, one source claimed it was caused by a burst water main under the sidewalk at the facility, and yet another claimed it was caused by the Plate Making Department.

After speaking with Warren Tice, Electronic Department Supervisor at Olympic, he stated the four main breakers overheated and tripped into the off position. The water main had nothing to do with the outage, and if the generators could be started, the power would still not flow into the building as the breakers were tripped off, not allowing any power into the plant. The electric shop employees made many attempts at resetting the breakers without success. Russell Electric was called in Sunday morning, and found nothing wrong with the system?

If this was a test of the output from the Olympic Facility, it appears we can produce the Los Angeles Times at one facility if need be.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ed said..."If this was a test of the output from the Olympic Facility, it appears we can produce the Los Angeles Times at one facility if need be...

Sure, as long as you don't mind:

1) Not printing all zoned editions and pissing off readers by giving them another version (ex. OC got plainers and other areas got foreign zones.)

2) Rebating advertisers because their zoned ads did not reach all their targeted subscribers and single copy purchasers.

3) Delivering to many areas (OC, VE, SFV, SB...)up to 4.5 hours late.

4) Delivering San Diego County 24 hours late (yes, we delivered the next day.)

5) Loosing hundreds or thousands of single copy sales because racks were empty and store shelves bare.

6) Loosing hundreds or thousands of subscribers because their papers hit the driveway late (my wife was pissed as ours came around 9:00 AM.)

7) Have your already high turnover door-to-door delivery drivers quit in droves.

8) Paying more to the contract trucking firms because of increased mileage.

No Ed, just getting the presses off does not cut it. This business is more complex and involves more people than just the pressroom.

While we may indeed see a single plant someday, it will not happen without a big circulation drop or a change in the very nature, and timing, of our product.

mr.oc said...

Mr. Grandspud and here I thought all along the whole company revolved around the pressroom. Perhaps the next round of layoffs should be based on work performance not seniority.

MR.OC

Anonymous said...

mr.oc said,"...and here I thought all along the whole company revolved around the pressroom...

Unfortunately many people think that. Even more unfortunate, those that do are all pressroom people.

I'd like to get another 5 or 10 years in before I retire. To do this, we are going to have to rethink how we do things, be flexible and work together. The short-sighted among us just want to protect the status quo and pretend they can continue as if it is still the year 1980.

I don't see scores of operations people quitting The Times. I don't know about everyone else, but I still think I have a pretty damn good job.

Edward Padgett said...

No Ed, just getting the presses off does not cut it. This business is more complex and involves more people than just the pressroom.

No kidding!

My Sunday Times arrived at 7:00 a.m. in San Dimas, why was your newspaper late?

I’m certain the fiasco on Saturday night cost the company dearly, which leads to the questions? What do you plan to do if this scenario repeats itself in the future? Why didn’t you call upon your pressroom employees to deliver the late newspapers to subscribers, many of us would have jumped in and helped if asked?

Anonymous said...

Ed said, "...Why didn’t you call upon your pressroom employees to deliver the late newspapers to subscribers, many of us would have jumped in and helped if asked?"

Really!!!!! Our pressroom employees filed an unfair labor practice because they thought they were entitled to free lunches in the cafeteria. What do you think would happen if our manager asked them to get into their cars and deliver the newspaper?????

For the record, the meal ticket "incentive" was stopped well before the union was certified. When Ronnie's group complained, The Times chose not to pay the lawyers big bucks to fight something so stupid and only costs a few thousand dollars a year. I guess Ronnie can call a forfeit a victory, but I think The Times' lawyers were focused on the more important stuff. Let's see how this drama unfolds.

Old OC said...

"Why didn’t you call upon your pressroom employees to deliver the late newspapers to subscribers, many of us would have jumped in and helped if asked?"

Ed, you've got to be kidding me.... You can’t be serious!

Edward Padgett said...

I'm serious about delivering the newspaper, it's not something I would like doing seven days per week. But in an emergency situation, I can be called upon.

Gradspud, I'll have to get to you, today is one of our busiest days.

Tonight's story is about GREED at the highest levels of the Tribune Company.

mr.oc said...

Ed said, "...Why didn’t you call upon your pressroom employees to deliver the late newspapers to subscribers, many of us would have jumped in and helped if asked?"


Ed you cant be serious ! I am for once in my life speechless I cant speak because I am having trouble catching my breath after reading this drivel.

MR.OC